Kaliro
Classification and Dialects Phonology Consonants Vowels Phonotactics Writing System Letter combinations: yi: j after a vowel ; yi: ji at the beginning of a word ; yī : jiː iy: j if followed by a short vowel, otherwise ij ; īy: ij ; if /iy/ is followed by a seemingly long vowel, then there is no diphthong, and the last vowel in the phoneme is shortened owu: ɔw ; same diphthong process if /wu/ is preceded by other vowels, except for /i/ and /ö/, and all long vowels ; if /wu/ is preceded (or followed in the case of a long /u/) by a seemingly long vowel, then there is no diphthong, and the first (or last in the case of a final /u/) vowel in the phoneme is shortened uw: w ; if /uw/ is followed (or preceded in the case of a long /u/) by a seemingly long vowel, then there is no diphthong, and the final (or first in the case of an initial /u/) vowel in the phoneme is shortened Note: Those letter combinations appear in the latin alphabet transcription of the language, due to the nature of the native Kaliro writing system, that doesn't admit for two vowels to follow each other (/w/ and /y/ act as buffers of sorts in the diphthong). They could be omitted in the transcription, but reflect the native orthography better. Glottal stop: The glottal stop (/ʔ/) is always present if a vowel is not preceded by a consonent. It will be marked by /'/ if such a situation occurs in the middle of a word, but will not be marked if at the begining of a word. Therefore, though all vowel-initial words start with the glottal stop, it will never be noted in the orthography but should be taken into account when pronouncing the words. Grammar Nouns 'Personnal pronouns:' Personal pronouns become possessive pronouns by adding /y/ if they start with a vowel. Otherwise, the particle "yi" is inserted within the first consonant or between the first and the second ones (except for "ho" that becomes "yowu") ; this leads to vowel length change in some cases: ka(n) à kiyā(n) ; su(n) à siyu(n) ; sokadęl/sokadèn à soyikadęl/soyikadèn ; luwa/lūn à liyuwa/liyūn ; hòn à hòyīn ; hodin àhoyidin ; hokin à hoyikin ; hoyān à hôyan Declension of nouns: Nouns are "declined" through the admixture of suffixes and prefixes. The list (non-exhaustive so far, as the language is still not 100% fixed) goes as follows: -yò- / -sā- = of, belonging to (genitive) nu- / ki- = to (whom, what) (indirect object) ū- = in (locative) yū- = to (where) (locative) dā- = from (locative) ę- = on (locative) ön- = under (locative) sarū- = over (locative) kū…(y)ò/sa...- = between ... with (and) ... (locative) -(y)ò / -sa = with, using, with means of (instrumental) do- = about, related to (for some verbs) ; prefix for direct object (accusative) hė- … -long vowel = vocative Some forms have more than one suffix or prefix: which one to use depends on the phonetics of the specific word combination, as Kaliro speakers like to keep the sound of their language harmonious, for example by avoiding the repetition of a sound. Some sound repetition cannot be avoided, but most of the time, the language changed to allow for a grammatical solution to a sound issue. Verbs Syntax Asking a question: Yes or no question: The sentence will start with the word " āsėyò" (a contraction of the words for "yes" and "no"). The rest of the sentence will have a structure similar to a normal sentence: (S)OV. The tone in this question goes up at the end of the sentence. Ex: Āsėyò dosiyuyarunasādoðęyu ? = Question-mark acc-your-mother-gen-horse? = Is it your mother's horse? When answering a question in "āsėyò", "yes" is "aya", and "no" is "sėya". A yes or no question can also be built in such a fashion that the expected answer is "no". In this case, the first word of the question will be "sėyę". The tone goes down at the end of the sentence, unless the word "ayu" is put after the verb (which is a possibility in speech but not in the written language). Ex: Sėyę dosiyuyarunasādoðęyu ? = This isn't your mother's horse, is it? When answering a question in "sėyę", the speaker has two choices: answering no, which means that the statement is correct, or answering yes, indicating that the statement isn't correct. In this case, "no" will be "sėyi" and "yes" will be "ayu". Similarly, if the expected answer of a yes or no question is "yes", then it will be constructed with "ayę". The tone will also go down at the end of the sentence, but will rise if the word "sėyu" is put after the verb. Ex: Ayę dosiyuyarunasādoðęyu ? = This is your mother's horse, isn't it? The answer will then either be "ayi" (yes) or "sėyu" (no). Wh- question words Lexicon Numerals Numerals: 1: tā 2: lé 3: kô 4: nè 5: yô 6: čī 7: mā 8: sū 9: hè 10: žū x10: ðę x100: da (x10 000 = da'a ; x1 000 000 = yada'a) 123: tādaléðękô 1x100, 2x10, 3 5684: yôðędačīdasūðęnè 5x10x100, 6x100, 8x10, 4 Example text Example of phrase structure: nuyowu'kôhayi''šanin mayižu = [to my '''three little girls] speak = I speak to my three little girls doyowutaruwasā'yô'ðęyun hėðiyu = [about my father's five horses (I) dream] = I'm dreaming about my father's five horses